Tuesday, 27 December 2011

It’s been a few years since we featured a site that lets consumers solicit help with their weekly errands, but recently we came across one that offers a slightly different twist. Now following in the footsteps of Sherrands, RunMyErrand and DoMyStuff.com comes NeighborFavor, a site that lets college students earn cash by helping each other with their shopping.

Focusing primarily on fast food and grocery delivery, NeighborFavor lets college students see where their friends are going shopping and then request that one of them pick something up while they’re out. Along the way, they must indicate not just what they need and when they need the items, but also how much of a “tip” they’re willing to pay for that convenience. Once a neighbor has accepted the request and delivered the needed items, payments are made via PayPal and neighbors can rate each other’s performance. A 3-digit PIN is assigned to each favor to ensure that payments are made accurately as agreed.

Apps for Android and iOS are coming soon, says CBZG Studios, NeighborFavor’s Massachusetts-based maker. A concept to bring to students — or other closely affiliated consumers — in your neck of the woods?

Friday, 16 December 2011

Business Model: Providing manual labor for building trailsWho Did It: Tyler JohnsonCapital Required: $0How Much It Makes: $3.3 million a year in revenue

Getting to see nature is not an easy task if you cannot gain access to nature. If people don't get to see nature they may never get to truly appreciate it and the role that it plays in their lives. Trails are the paths that hikers and backpackers use to gain access to nature. These trails can however only be constructed without the use of vehicles or machinery according to the law and this has presented a difficult situation to many contractors. There is however a different kind of contractor that has achieved plenty of success building and maintaining these trails.

On the Beaten Path Trail Contractors only started early this year and has already acquired around 3.3 million dollars worth of contracts for the jobs done on the trails. 17 dollars for every hour was an attractive offer to many workers at the ski-resort whenever the season wasn't good for skiing and soon enough even college students started to come in during their summer breaks. In only its first year, On the Beaten Path Trail Contractors already has 63 workers in four states including Colorado and the company is not worried about government cut backs either. According to its founder Tyler Johnson, the support from government officials for both access to nature and job creation will ensure that the contracts keep coming.

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Mexican / global tattooist Juan "Super" Arreguin is one of our crew, no matter where he is. He has left to open his own shop in Leon, Guanajuato Mexico. We're all proud of his achievents and contributions and are grateful for the time he spent with us.

He is recognized for his artistic and loyal contribution to the progression of the art wherever he may tattoo, and now, right here, with his own model machines by Godoy Machines. Pictured above are a pair of his "Fly" and "Super Fly" model machines.

The Juan Arreguin "Fly" Model. A pair of 6 layer high saturation coils. Unequaled in incremental sensitivity, no other round coil assembly can compare. The magnetic field generated by specific wire layers and gauges are sequentially integrated in this coil assembly to combine with distinct spring gauges and tensions plus armature bar mass and weight to produce the highest variety of incrementally sensitive variations in force. A true masterpiece.

The Juan Arreguin - "Super Fly" model. A steel frame with our patented square coil assembly. Our patented square electromagnetic coil assembly boosts magnetic field mils by invoking an exact combination of material and a specially designed coil core mass. Spring material, gauges and tension combined with frame specifications to dictate fluid movement, variable velocity and incrementally sensitive force There are several special NEW and innovative features on this machine, NOT found on any other machine in the industry which enable maximum sensitivity at lower voltage. From a light and sensitive feel to punchy and more forceful, all under 4V.

Juan's work is easily identifiable and un mistakable. All the elements of light, shade and contrast can be seen. As well as fine lines...

The SUPER FLY MACHINE is able to subtly blend and fade as well as solidly line and evenly color with just a slight turn of the potentiometer.

This is proof that good work does not just happen by chance or luck or just on the artist's ability. A well tuned professional machine, built by professionals that understand these techniques (because they apply them themselves on a daily basis, just like you do) , can make any artistic goals a stress free reality.

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Business Model: Selling unlocked cellphonesWho Did It: Junaid Shams and Ahmed KhattakCapital Required: $150,000How Much It Makes: $35 million a year

The name GSMNation is one of the most synonymous with the mobile phones. GSMNation is a well known seller of mobile phones but this is not why the website has become well known. What makes the phones that are sold by this website so special is the fact that the phones are first unlocked by the manufacturers prior to being sold. GSMNation is the brainchild of one Ahmed Khattak, a Yale student who noted during a brief stay in London that in Europe, mobile phone users would use their phones without having to take contracts with the carriers of the service. This was in stack contrast with the American population where most users buy phones that come with contracts. This is more expensive than the services that come minus the contracts and this is the pitch that GSMNation is now using and has been quite successful so far.

Surprisingly GSMNation was started with nothing more than 150 000 dollars that Khattak and his friend Junaid shams had gathered on their own and from their families. They also got support from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. GSMNation was officially launched in 2010, two years after the two friends had started selling the unlocked phones online. GSMNation sells a wide variety of mobile devices including the popular BlackBerrys and iPhones. Apart from individuals, the website caters to a wide array of clientèle including agencies of the government. GSMNation currently employs 12 people and has already achieved sales in excess of 50,000 phones. The unlocked phones can be used with any carrier and although most of GSMNation's are from other countries, the U.S. based customer base is expected to grow in the years to come.

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Mad scientists, rejoice: An Indianapolis startup is rolling out a make-your-own-soft-drink campaign its founders hope will become the YouTube of the beverage industry.

The idea is simple, even if the execution isn’t. Customers will be able to choose the ingredients for custom-made concoctions and design their own labels, then uFlavor will make and sell the drink—to its creators and the general public, who’ll be asked to rate the finished product.

“It’s one of the biggest trends out there right now,” he said. “There’s no reason uFlavor can’t be in the forefront of that."

McColgin, who has no connection to uFlavor, also praised the company’s slow-but-sure rollout strategy. Rather than immediately go to market with a product that’s new to consumers, many firms have had success generating buzz first.

“You want people waiting for it, watching for it,” he said. “But ultimately, your product has to live up to the expectations you create.”

Cloran and his partners have been working on uFlavor since 2009, when he pulled the concept out of his “ideas” folder. His original brainstorm came about 10 years ago: a vending machine that could produce any drink in the world.

“It was a crazy idea, too hard to build” said Cloran, 43.

Then he met Purdue University graduates Nathan Altman and Mike Mitchell, fellow entrepreneurs who met as members of Carmel High School’s award-winning robotics team. They thought they could pull it off, and they did.

A prototype was on display Thursday at DeveloperTown, which also invested in the project, but the partners decided it made more sense to build the online marketplace—and line up additional funding—before mass-producing the machines.

Home soda-making equipment already is sold at thousands of retailers. Market leader SodaStream, for example, allows users to choose their own syrup, bottle and carbonation. The partners say uFlavor breaks down the process even further.

“We really want to open up the ‘black box’ of the flavor industry—how different acids affect the tongue, how different tastes unfold,” Cloran said.

Cinnamon gives Coca-Cola its characteristic bite, for example, while Pepsi dials up the sweetener.

uFlavor’s founders worked with FONA to get a feel for how to blend flavors, and the company’s flavor scientists helped tweak the first three drinks to get them just right.

A single custom soda sells for $9.99 on uFlavor’s website, an eight-pack is $29.99 and a 24-pack is $59.99—all with free shipping within the continental United States. Once users start designing their own flavors, the company plans to use the Threadless model and give creators a share of the proceeds.

The partners hope to return to Indianapolis in two weeks with some sales in the books, which could help them line up additional funding. They declined to disclose financial details, but Verge CEO Matt Hunckler is chronicling the trip online.

“It’s always exciting in a startup environment when people pay you,” said Altman, uFlavor’s CEO and “prime minister of choice.” Mitchell is chief technology officer and “viceroy of variety.”

The men, both 24 and partners in DeveloperTown, will be working full time on uFlavor. Cloran, the chairman and “flavor emancipator,” will devote one day a week to the startup.

Saturday, 10 December 2011

If this comment is not enough to make anyone squirm, then they should work for ICUC Moderation. Chuck Dueck, a professional online moderator for the company, eats comments like these for breakfast everyday.

And he does more than eat it straight out of the can. With the mental poise of a Zen master, Dueck carefully deletes these comments and gives the commenters a bit of scolding on the forum. He even does it through email.

It doesn’t work all the time, though. There are occasions where he had to ban the accounts of repeat offenders, all the while deleting the cusses and swears of spammers, trolls, and haters alike. This goes on for hours; and after a day of careful pruning, Dueck has temporarily managed to restore civility among the volatile users of the Internet. That is, before he gets another comment from someone intent on annihilating the human species.

Free discussion and commenting have always been one of the main reasons why a lot of people are seduced by the Internet. But freedom of expression isn’t always served with good intentions. Online discussion can be a lethal combination, a concoction of anonymity, privacy, and safety from a secluded area of the world that brings out the repulsive natures of human beings—hence, the increasing need for moderators to act as online mediators and censors in the comment boards.

Dueck is among one of the 200 comment moderators employed by ICUC Moderation, a brainchild of Keith Bilous. He started the company in 2002 as a business that broadcasted text messages onto nightclub screens. The business expanded, and a year ago, ICUC cleaned up the comments on the Twitter and Facebook pages of the Boston Globe, Starbucks, and Chevron, earning them around $10 million in revenue.

Not bad for a company who makes a living out of raging hormones, bad hair d ays, and “colorful” obscenities.

Moderators, or "mods", typically earn from $40,000 to $80,000 every year—an acceptable figure to compensate for working with the vile and the obscene. Personal threats are not uncommon, as well as extreme bigotry, racism, and pedophilia. Even Bilous is not immune to them. There are moments he feels like he needs to spend two hours in the shower because the comments can be so disgusting.

And he’s not the only one who shares this sentiment. Many of his staff feels the same way, and there are some who finds it just one BIG pain-in-the-ass. In fact, a significant number of newly-hired employees with ICUC last for only about two weeks; and so to keep them longer, the company has devised a strategy where moderators work on sites in short shifts, alternating between malicious forums to light and fun ones.

At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to the person who’s moderating the site. Commen t moderation is not just about mediation, conflict-resolution, and sensitivity, but also a unique detachment from everything and everyone. It also requires good common sense. It takes a special kind of person to do all of that—and the faint-hearted ones need not apply. Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and a former community manager for numerous online comment forums sums it up in one sentence: “It’s art, not science.”

Friday, 9 December 2011

By the time Jake Schiffer was ready to incorporate Leprechaun Cider Co. in the spring of 2010, he had a business plan, enough funding to cover startup costs and an orchard lined up to provide the kind of apples he wanted and to handle the fermentation and bottling of the product.

All he needed was his parents' signature on the paperwork, since he was only 20.

“It's been a learning experience for all of us,” Schiffer says.

Leprechaun Golden Cider hit the Houston market in March, but only on draft. In mid-September, 22-ounce bottles of the sparkling alcoholic beverage went on sale at retail prices of $6 to $7.50 each in stores and around $9 in restaurants. It's available in San Antonio at Lüke and some liquor stores.

Next will be a drier product that Schiffer explained in a recent interview is more like the European ciders he was exposed to during travels while in high school and college. Both ciders will be available year-round; future seasonal releases could involve additions of such fruits as Fredericksburg peaches or Michigan cherries.

Leprechaun joins a U.S. cider market that, although tiny in comparison with the beer market, grew by 10 percent last year. A recent Reportlinker.com analysis attributed that to increased investment and marketing by Green Mountain Cider, the U.S. market leader, as well as growing consumer demand.

“The growth of premium regional draught cider products (many of them on tap) has mirrored the growth of craft beer, and these two segments share a somewhat similar consumer positioning,” the report said.

Schiffer said he was inspired to form a cider company while he was a student at the University of San Diego because he was dissatisfied with the ciders he found in the U.S. He approached his parents about taking the money they had set aside for him to attend graduate school and putting it into a business instead.

“I had to sell them first,” he said. “They weren't going to give me the $100,000 without a plan.”

His parents — both attorneys, although his mother has retired from corporate work to write a book — helped him refine that plan, secure the necessary licenses and purchase kegs, glassware and other items.

They also put him in contact with family acquaintances at Blue Mountain Cider Co. in Oregon. Schiffer flew up and liked what he saw at the 300-acre orchard. The company produces its own cider from handpicked cider apples, but now it makes Leprechaun under a separate contract based on recipes that Schiffer developed.

“Our cider doesn't taste like their cider,” he said.

Schiffer, who made his entrepreneurial debut while a junior at Memorial High School, selling skimboards to friends and classmates to use on flooded fields, said he decided to contract for the cider production because that would let him get a product more quickly so he could capitalize on the coming “cider wave.”

He noted that two other Texas cider companies, both based in the Austin area, have opened since Leprechaun went on sale.

Schiffer said he might one day plant an orchard and start making cider on native soil, but for now he is promoting Leprechaun's “Texas roots.”

He expects to have produced up to 11,000 gallons by year-end. Although not in the black yet, he said, Leprechaun already is generating cash that can be used to support the business.For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

Sebastian Abondano was fascinated by the success of Webkinz, stuffed toys that came with a corresponding online persona for kids to play with in a virtual world. In 2008, while a junior at Babson College, he started his own line of toys that bridge the physical and digital worlds. My Funky Planet sells remote-controlled cars and helicopters that come with codes to unlock virtual replicas in an online game. Targeted at boys aged 6 to 12, the toys are manufactured in China and sold through U.S. retailers such as Toys R Us, Sears, and Discovery Channel Stores. They retail for from $20 to $120 and come with virtual currency that can be used to soup up the online avatars. Though selling virtual goods is not a big source of revenue right now, Abondano expects it to grow as the user base expands and players can eventually interact with each other in a game world. Abondano says the nine-employee company has raised $400,000 in seed money and has been profitable since its first year.

Saturday, 3 December 2011

That was Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, and what he had to say when he gave a MrBeer beer kit a try for himself. And believe us—he wasn't drunk when he said that.

Oliver described the “Mr. Beer Process” in three steps: "We sanitize, we brew, and then we bottle."

And how much did it cost him to make a 2-gallon beer?

It took him $40 for the complete kit—and a 2-gallon beer worth $.25 cents to $1, depending on the size of the bottle that’s being used.

That's not bad, considering it tastes good. Comedian Andy Dick once had a test run of the Mr. Beer as well, and all he had to say was: "That's smooth. That's probably the smoothest beer I've ever drank." And unlike those that have been shipped and exposed to outside air, Mr. Beer’s aroma is more intense because it comes straight from the plastic beer keg.

Mr. Beer has been in the business of creating the world's easiest home brewing systems and supplies since 1993. They use barley, wheat, and hops for their malts, and are brewed on their modern facility on South Island NZ. They use a complex process of cracking, heating, and separating grains and then adding in hops to produce the color, balance, and flavor that beer is known for. However, the difference is that with Mr. Beer, all the excess water is removed, and the concentrated malt extract that’s left would be canned for shipping.

Their most popular product is the Premium Edition Mr. Beer Kit, which comes with a 2-Gallon Fermenter, first batch of beer (Standard Booster Recipe with Hopped Malt extract, dry brewing yeast, and No-Rinse Cleanser), eight amber-colored bottles with caps and labels. These bottles are designed to accommodate carbonated beverages, and are FDA approved.

Other Mr. Beer products also include Cider Kits a nd Root Beer kits—and they taste good as well.

With such high-tech procedures, does it guarantee perfect beer all the time?

Not necessarily. It depends on how you brew it.

"It's a little bit sweet and needs a little bit more carbonation." Oliver observed, after tasting his first batch of beer.

But here’s where he made a teeny-tiny-itsy-bit mistake: he didn’t wait long enough for the beer to ferment.

A good way to avoid this is to let the beer sit longer than a week to reduce its sweetness. The longer it ferments, the less sweet it becomes.

As with everything else, patience really IS a virtue when it comes to brewing your own beer. According to Drew Vics, a.k.a "The Brewologist", you can have home brewed beer in two weeks, but if you want it to taste its best, then wait for four weeks—or three and a half, if you can't wait any longer.

A good solution for that "le ss head" or "less carbonation" problem so often encountered by first-time brewers is to dissolve no more than 3/8 of a cup of sugar or confectioner's corn sugar into 1 pint of hot water and then let it cool. Then divide them evenly among your bottles instead of adding each sugar in each bottle (as what the direction says). This results in better and more even carbonation.

Really, it doesn’t get any simpler than that. Vics put it succinctly: "Mr. Beer makes a good beginner home brewing kit, and it is a great kit to keep around and reuse, even for the more advanced brewer. This is a great way to get your feet wet, and learn the basics of the home brewing process."

Thursday, 1 December 2011

That was the help-wanted note new mom Rachel Christenson posted a few weeks ago at online marketplace TaskRabbit Inc. Neither she nor her husband wanted the "gross" job of dealing with an overflowing compost bin, so she clicked her mouse in search of someone who would do her dirty work.

After about 11 hours and a few crazy questions like, "Are your worms nice?" Ms. Christenson, 27 years old, found a taker. Douglas Ivey, a 45-year-old research scientist, drained the "worm juice" from the bin, put back the compost, mixed in newspaper and hosed it all down. The price? $31. "That guy was bold," says Ms. Christenson, of San Francisco. "He just jumped right in."

A new crop of websites and smartphone applications are allowing people to farm out chores to a growing army of temporary personal assistants. These micro-employees are taking the division of labor to once-unthinkable extremes.

One recent advertisement on TaskRabbit sought someone to play a joke on a friend who's a customer-service representative. "It's his bday today, and we need someone that will make a prank call multiple times each hour for a 4 hour time period," read the ad. "The goal is to keep him on the phone as long as possible."

Thousands of unemployed or underemployed workers have parlayed one-off job requests into part- or full-time work. The gigs are especially popular with stay-at-home moms, retirees and students. Workers choose their jobs and negotiate their own rates.

Erika Dumaine, 24, logged onto TaskRabbit this April and saw the following plea for help: "Buy me shoes ASAP. I stepped in dog poop." So Ms. Dumaine, now a full-time nanny, bought and delivered a requested new pair of navy blue Toms shoes from Nordstrom's to the poster, Guillermo Rauch. (Her payment: $17.) Aura Montano, a 21-year-old nursing student, stood on the Brooklyn Bridge holding an "I heart Anie Lewis" sign one Friday evening in August so she could attract the attention of Eric Lewis's wife and hand her flowers as she walked home from work. (She earned $19.)

Some investors see dollar signs. Zaarly Inc., an online marketplace for micro-labor and goods based in San Francisco, recently raised $14.1 million from Google Inc. investor and venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Actor Ashton Kutcher and clothing designer Marc Ecko have also put in money. In October, Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Meg Whitman joined the company's board.

After launching six months ago, Zaarly is processing more than 1,000 transactions a week for jobs that cost around $50 a pop. Chief Executive and cofounder Bo Fishback, 33, says about half the requests involve tangible goods, and the rest involve some sort of service. One of his favorites: a person who hired someone to buy a Michael Jackson-themed dog costume for a puppy.

Sometimes the situation can be dire. John Burks, a 30-year-old actor who also runs an arts organization in Chicago, accidentally dropped his keys in a sewer during a rainstorm over the summer. To replace all the keys—including ones to his home, office and Mercedes—could cost well over $100.

After Googling "lost keys down sewer" to see what tactics others had used, Mr. Burks thought he could recover his keys with a fishing rod and a magnet, but had neither. His girlfriend at the time knew someone who worked at Zaarly, so he posted the job on its site. Liz Langer, a 27-year-old neuroscience graduate student and top Zaarly "fulfiller," spotted the job and within an hour arrived with the needed tools. Fifteen minutes later, they fished the keys out of the sewer. (Price: $80.)

"It's like stranger than fiction," Mr. Burks says. "I thought there was a very small chance that anything like that can happen."

Mr. Ecko, founder of his namesake billion-dollar fashion company, posted a request for a cake resembling a can of Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer for his now seven-year-old son's birthday. His son got the cake "and I came off like a hero," he says. Mr. Kutcher, 33, who has received Hebrew lessons and cups of coffee through Zaarly, says every request he's posted—anonymously, he emphasized—has been fulfilled. "Companies like this are really tackling things like unemployment in an efficient, viable way," Mr. Kutcher says.

Some micro-laborers find a lot of little tasks can add up. Alanna Greenham, 56, was cash-strapped and unemployed in San Francisco. Then last April, while sending in her 30th job application, she came across a TaskRabbit ad.

After submitting an online application, completing a video interview and going through a Social Security number trace and a federal criminal background check, Ms. Greenham joined the San Francisco-based company's crew of about 2,000 "TaskRabbits." She does odd jobs via the service every day, aiming to clear at least $25 an hour. So far, she's completed about 250 jobs and has racked up around $1,500 a month.

Recently, Ms. Greenham drove a truckload of goods from San Francisco to a warehouse in San Bruno, Calif., where they were shipped off to the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert. Her cargo? A big silver tricycle, a batch of Jester clothes and a large, tent-like dwelling called a yurt. Her price? $100.

TaskRabbit won't disclose specific revenue per task, but says its average service fee is 15%, paid by the person posting the job.

Amazon Mechanical Turk, a service of Amazon.com Inc., lets people work from home, like virtual temps. Companies such as Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn Corp. place jobs on the service, often to help them manage or categorize content, says Sharon Chiarella, vice president of Amazon Mechanical Turk.

About a year ago, Chris Berry, a special-education teacher in Granite Bay, Calif., began actively using the service, launched in 2005, in hopes of making extra money to support his wife and four children.

Mr. Berry, 39, earned more than $10,000 from tasks that paid as little as 10 cents a pop. He says he sometimes completed more than 1,000 jobs a day, ranging from writing golfing tips to doling out parenting advice.

"I don't see myself stopping any time soon," he says. "I could be on Facebook playing games or something, but this is kind of fun."

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Before the rise of the Digital age, research and forensic scientists, biologists, and botanists, painstakingly identified each and every living organism by searching their various ranks in the Nomenclature Code rule book. Using advanced technology however, has made it possible to simplify these steps in just a couple of clicks on the computer. Determix has created Lysandra Online, an internet-based, biological database that classifies all organisms using interactive catalogues and identification guides. Everything is basically there; and unlike a trip to the library, it wouldn't take a day to find a strange organism's Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species classification—all in one sitting.

This is good news to scientists all over the world. Lysandra Online is co-authored by leading specialists in the fields of zoology and biological sciences; and it uses complex algorithms to search for an organism's specific hierarchies. It makes things even easier by adding illustrated catalogues, handy navigation, and print output in its features. And here's the best part: it can organize random search lists from the general catalogue and even create mini-presentations. Some of its published works include beetles and butterfly classification, butterfly identifcation database, and all that can be easily accessed via website.

The best part, however, is that it’s free. All its database and facilities are available after installation, and some of its demo databases don't even need registration. Today, it is used as an accurate guide to biological classification, and Determix has now released a commercial version of its database that contains completely illustrated tools, maps, and pictures for better identification.

Saturday, 26 November 2011

What it isShift My Gift is a web-based service that allows registered users to transfer money to worthy causes--money that would otherwise have been spent on gifts. Donations are processed online through Network for Good, a Bethesda, Md., nonprofit organization. Through a partnership with GuideStar, a nonprofit reporting agency, users can access a database of more than 1.8 million IRS-recognized nonprofits and choose where they want the cash to go.

How it startedAfter hiking through some of Nepal's poorest regions, Blair Souder returned to his Lincoln University, Pa., home just in time for Black Friday, the post-Thanksgiving retail frenzy. Although the people in Nepal had very little, they "were very connected and seemed to be living in happiness and peace, as far as I could see," Souder says. It was a stark contrast to the shopping craze that kicks off the December holiday season in the States.

"I began thinking it would be cool to have a place online where people could easily [transfer their gifts to benefit others] and also create a bit of a movement around it," Souder says. "It would help people reflect on themselves: How am I going to celebrate the next event in my life? Do I really need more gifts?" He told his brother Kirk about the idea and the two went to work building the site.

Why it took offThe site, which has only been live since mid-August, attracted more than 2,000 discrete visitors within the first month, simply through word-of-mouth. The Souders plan a grassroots promotion campaign that will include up to 25 partner nonprofits to help spread the word through their own networks. One of the most recently featured nonprofits is the venerable Heifer International, which was established in 1944 and works with poor communities throughout the world to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth.

The business caseShift My Gift charges users a $1.49 processing fee per transaction--less than what it would cost to wrap and send most gifts through the U.S. Postal Service or courier. The fee is not tax-deductible, but the donation is. In addition, a 4.75 percent "grant" is withheld from each donation and given to Network for Good to offset the cost of processing (the grant is tax-deductible).

What's nextThe Souders will work with their nonprofit partners to run donation campaigns and encourage gifting through the site. They're also working on a publicity campaign and increasing their social media profile to get the word out about their site, which Blair says is easy to use.

"For people who realize that they just don't want any more stuff and would like to use gift-giving occasions, like birthdays or weddings, to make a difference in the world, this allows them to celebrate in a more meaningful way," he says. "People are really responding to that message."

Friday, 25 November 2011

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as the old saying goes, and we’ve seen that maxim applied in numerous marketplaces, connecting buyers and sellers of unused deal-a-day coupons, cardboard boxes and — perhaps most literally of all — industrial waste. Now bringing it into the realm of the sales department, SaleSpread gives businesses a way to sell the prospects they can’t use and buy others they can.

Companies with surplus leads that aren’t useful to them begin by signing up to sell them on UK-based SaleSpread, which then notifies the client in question of the business’s intent to share their information with other companies. Assuming the client accepts, SaleSpread then verifies the details and assigns a price to the lead based on its headline value, the number of years the business relationship would be likely to last, the industry, and the likelihood of potential buyers winning the lead, among other factors. Next, it sends a prospect description to potential buyers, who are given the chance to purchase one of four slots, each representing an opportunity to contact the client and provide a quote. If the sale goes to one of these four SaleSpread potential buyers, all four companies are charged the lead price. If the sale goes to a business outside of SaleSpread, then all four members are reimbursed. Sellers can make as much as GBP 100 for each lead worth GBP 1,000 that ends up being won by a SaleSpread member, the company says.

Waste not, want not, to quote another old proverb. How could you build a business on unwanted discards?

Thursday, 24 November 2011

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1. Legitimate websites only. No MLM, no e-books, no scams, no infobusiness, no investment opportunities, no diets, no supplements, no pharma.2. SEO links only if applicable and organic looking (limited to 1, not counting URL of your website).3. If we do write up, there is a $15 fee ($50 total). If you provide review, the price is $35, but we have to OK it first. The review you provide must look as a neutral business article, NOT blatant advertisement. Giving us a previously published review is OK (as long as we approve it).4. If you want to provide 5 different reviews for the SAME website there is no extra charge. If you want to give us 5 different reviews for 5 different sites you own, there is $5 extra charge for each review you provide or $15 for each review we write.5. Payments are done via PayPal, credit card, MoneyBookers, bank transfers or checks.6. If you want to test our service, before paying full $35/$50, that's fine. For $10 we'll publish review your provide at one of our blogs (most likely NicheGeek.com), so you'll be able to look at traffic/SEO effect the review generates, before paying the full amount. If you are satisfied, you simply pay the remainder to have you review published at the remaining four sites.7. This is a SPONSORED REVIEW service, NOT paid links service. All poorly written submissions or SEO-centered submissions will be refused. Your review must have the same general tone as all other materials published at our sites. Once again, think news article in business journal, not infomercial.

If you are interested, send us an email to david[AT]DepriceDotCom with URL of your website.

Daily visitors is a number of people who visit the ENTIRE site in a single day, not just the main page. Traffic at Nichgeek.com and Madconomist.com can go up to 5-50K per day for a short period of time, when one of the posts lands on the front page of Reddit, Digg or other social networks. This has happened a number of times in the past.

For each website, except PickyDomains.com, your review will appear on the front page and will be treated as all other blog posts (meaning we won't hide it and it will capture most visitors possible.) All posts/links are permanent.

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

When Michael Kern came across a 14-wheeled "flowboard"--basically a skateboard-snowboard-surfboard hybrid--in 2001, he knew he had to jump on an opportunity. His 20-year-old company, Sport Technology, bought the licensing rights, then the original board-maker's company, and now also produces the Snowskate, which replaces the wheels of a skateboard with four mini-skis for free-footed mayhem on the slopes. It's available at major retailers, including Target, Walmart and Toys"R"Us, as well as through more than 60 independent toy, specialty and catalog retailers. Company revenue in 2010 was around $10 million, more than double the year before; 2011 revenue is close to $20 million; and Sport Technology forecasts $36 million for 2012. A bad-ass (and lucrative) crossover.

Monday, 21 November 2011

Residents and workers in Redmond can get a taste of the Caribbean without leaving city limits.

The Jerk Sation, a mobile food truck serving up Caribbean cuisine, made its debut in Redmond on Monday and is helping owner and chef Michael Cunningham get his food out to hungry people.

The Renton resident and former Boeing employee opened for business about two weeks ago in Woodinville, where he is stationed in the parking lot of the Woodin Professional Building at 13901 NE 175th St. on Tuesdays and Fridays. Right now, Cunningham is in Redmond on Mondays and his truck is parked at 6855 176th Ave. N.E. The Jerk Station also parks in Renton on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the Center Cycle parking lot at 3950 Lind Ave. S.W.

"My preference is to stay on the Eastside," Cunningham said.

The Jerk Station offers food in two categories: Caribbean classics and Caribbean creations. The former features classic Caribbean dishes such as Jamaican patties, jerk meats, rice and peas and mofongo. With his creations, Cunningham said he has created original dishes that use Caribbean preparation techniques. Some of Cunningham's dishes include a Haitian lobster roll, Puerto Rican crab cake and Cubano cheesesteak.

Cunningham received his culinary training at the Kitchen Academy (now called Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts) in Tukwila and graduated in 2008. Although he grew up in the South, Cunningham went to school in south Florida, which introduced him to Caribbean food. This was one of the reasons he chose to focus on Caribbean cuisine.

"I always enjoyed the food," he said.

To promote his new business, Cunningham, who has a masters of business administration in marketing, said he did a lot of footwork by passing out flyers before he opened, but he has also utilized social media, promoting the Jerk Station on Twitter (his handle is @CaribreosoCater) and Facebook. Through Twitter, Cunningham said he is able to communicate directly with customers, giving them real-time information about what he's selling and even taking suggestions on what people want.

Cunningham added that since he began Jerk Station, his Twitter account — which he also uses to promote Caribreoso, his catering company — has tripled in the number of followers.

"It's been growing pretty quickly," he said, adding that posting pictures brings in more followers as well.

The idea to start a food truck came to Cunningham when he was laid off from Boeing in 2010. At that point, he had already put the wheels in motion to start a catering company, but he also wanted to offer a lunch service. Cunningham said he initially started with a delivery service, but that didn't work because orders weren't coming in with enough time for him to cook the food and get it to his customers.

Right around this time documentaries and shows about food trucks were airing and Cunningham saw that they were run by experienced, professional chefs.

"These are people who have extensive, well-established food backgrounds," he said.

A food truck seemed like the perfect idea for Cunningham. He said he didn't want to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant because the hours were too long and grueling. He said he wants to be able to spend time with his wife and a restaurant would have him working opposite hours as her.

Eventually, way down the line, Cunningham can see himself opening a bed and breakfast with a full-service restaurant, somewhere on the beach. But that's far into the future.

For now, Cunningham said he enjoys seeing people eat his food and interacting with his customers.

Friday, 18 November 2011

/PRWeb.com/ Canadian couple Jon Peters and Brittany Gardner has hired PickyDomains.com to name their baby boy. Order 2090 reads as follows:

“We are expecting a son on December 1st and need a first and last name for him. Neither of us are particularly traditional, but would like the name to have a strong/enlightened/intelligent/futuristic meaning, and have good sound harmony when spoken. Some of our favorite first names so far are Raven, Colour and Sword. A last name is requested as well. Some general concepts we like (for inspiration) are: Futurism, Liberty, Knowledge, Transhumanism, Creativity, Exploration, and Innovation. We are open to cool names from any fiction/culture/religion (though we are not religious).”

Dmitry Davydov, the co-founder of PickyDomains.com at first was surprised. “We’ve had some wacky naming orders. We’ve been asked to name a rap star dog once and we’ve named stip clubs and escort services. But crowdsourcing baby name, that’s the first for us,” said Davydov.

Thursday, 17 November 2011

Although police officers in most countries are issued bulletproof vests, they don't necessarily wear them at all times - would you want to heave one of those things around for an entire shift? What they do often carry, however, are clipboards. Taking the "every little bit helps" approach, Ohio's IMPACT Armor Technologies has put two and two together, and come up with something that should actually offer some protection - a Ballistic Clipboard.

Besides holding arrest warrants, speeding tickets and other cop-type papers, the clipboard is also capable of stopping bullets. It reportedly "provides multi-hit protection against 9 mm, .357, .40, and .44 mag rounds" at up to point blank range, in hot or cold temperatures. It is also said to protect against knives and blunt weapons. Unlike a vest, however, it weighs less than two pounds (907 grams).

While some people might picture an officer desperately trying trying to hide their entire body behind a clipboard, it presumably isn't intended to work that way. More likely, in situations where an assailant fires wildly at an officer's chest, there would actually be a pretty good chance of their bullet striking the clipboard instead.

It's apparently not that wacky of an idea, as IMPACT first designed the device in response to a request from local law enforcement personnel. Additionally, the company is not the only one offering such a product. Although the somewhat riot shield-like design of IMPACT's clipboard is unique, more ordinary-looking bulletproof clipboards are available from several other manufacturers.

Monday, 14 November 2011

Ben Kaufman wants more people to try to become inventors. "It's a great feeling to see your product being used by a complete stranger," says Kaufman, who founded and sold an iPod accessories company before he launched Quirky in 2009. The site turns two community-submitted ideas into sellable products each week. Hopefuls pay $10 each to post an idea online for the 85,000-member Quirky community to vote on. Ideas must be be physical goods (not software) that can retail for less than $150. An in-house team of engineers and designers examines the two most popular submissions and builds a prototype. If enough units are presold to cover the cost of bringing a product to market, Quirky will contract to have it manufactured and distributed. Kaufman says Quirky retains all rights to the products and takes 70 percent of the revenue; the rest goes to the creators, many of whom earn tens of thousands of dollars from their ideas. The company has completed nearly 200 products, including such best-sellers as a power strip with a flexible body, a collapsible hanger, and a modular pocket knife.